Ten-year old boy dies in landmine blast while collecting scrap metal in Bosnia

Archive image: Simulated mine accident

The Bosnian media has reported that a ten-year old boy was fatally wounded in a marked landmine field in the town of Gracanica in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, while picking scrap metal.

The police have confirmed that the boy was killed and that his father sustained life-threatening injuries from the explosion of the mine. According to the local media, the boy’s family is forced to make a living from collecting scrap iron and selling it.

More than three percent of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina is still infested with mines, despite the war having ended 18 years ago.

According to some estimates, there have been 7,500 casualties in landmines explosions since 1995, and 45 mine removal specialists have died doing their jobs in Bosnia alone.